1. Field of Invention
This invention is directed to systems and methods for facilitating preflight planning and inflight procedures, navigation and communications execution using portable electronic data storage and display devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Portable electronic data storage and display devices, such as, for example, electronic notebooks and like handheld devices, present a tremendous capacity to provide a user with readily available information that was previously found only in large, cumbersome technical or reference libraries of printed publications. Use of these portable electronic data storage and display devices in many highly technical environments is becoming commonplace. The capabilities of such devices are limited only by their internal data storage capacities, specific functionality of the individual pages (for example, whether an individual page simply portrays static readable data in either textual or graphical form, or the individual page provides some interactive capability to the user), and methodologies or capabilities for manipulating pages of data resident in the device. Many of these portable electronic data storage and display devices in common use today are oriented to specific sets of tasks or specific usable purposes. One such example is the Electronic Flight Bag, or “EFB,” which is gaining wide acceptance with individual cockpit flight crew members, particularly in large commercial airline, military transport and general aviation aircraft with multi-place cockpits.
In specifically task-oriented operations, these devices, in addition to their capacity for storage and display of tremendous technical or reference libraries of information, provide a platform to enable other tasks to be automated. In EFBs, for example, checklists are made interactive, and other data form fill type functions, such as performing weight and balance and/or performance calculations, may be enabled.
Conventionally, each member of a commercial airline, military transport or general aviation aircraft cockpit flight crew carries with them, into the cockpit of the aircraft, a large “flight bag,” which is a catalog case full of normal procedural and emergency procedures checklists, aircraft operating manuals including tables of operating limitations, domestic and international navigational charts (as appropriate), and/or other pertinent or required inflight information publications and the like. As such, for flight operations in the United States alone, a total page count for all of the required documents could number in the tens of thousands.
In an attempt to manage the subset of this overwhelming library of information which is required for a specific flight in a specific region on a specific day, an individual cockpit flight crew member's routine includes pre-arranging selected portions of this extensive library of all required printed materials in an anticipated order of need for a given leg of flight from a departure airport to a destination airport. The individual cockpit flight crew member typically arranges the data pages as a collection of paper pages ordered in a sequence that reflects the intended flight trajectory for that leg. The data pages are typically stored on a clipboard, or as marked pages in a binder or series of binders. Such organization of needed data is done manually by each individual cockpit flight crew member prior to each leg on each flight. As such, specific references required for preflight, start, taxi, takeoff, departure, inflight/enroute navigation, arrival, approach, landing, taxi, shutdown and postflight are readily available substantially in the order in which it is anticipated that they will be required. Such preflight planning and organization results in an increased measure of safety once airborne by minimizing the time necessary for the individual cockpit flight crew member to access information required for a specific phase flight, and consequently minimizing time spent not concentrating solely on controlling the aircraft.
Special and/or emergency procedures checklists and publications are often segregated and kept in a separate portion of each individual cockpit flight crew member's flight bag. Those publications to which quick access may be required during critical phases of flight are often segregated in this manner in order to minimize the time necessary for the individual cockpit flight crew member to access the required information, thereby coincidentally minimizing the amount of time which the individual cockpit flight crew member's attention is diverted from concentrating principally on controlling the aircraft when such concentration should be most acute in order to meet the special circumstances presented.
Additionally, there are many repetitive tasks which often require the recall, review and verification of individually mandated checklists in order to ensure and record completion of individual steps. Also, individual cockpit flight crew members must routinely fill out and/or accept a number of standard forms for each flight. Each of these repetitive or routine tasks requires significant interaction between individual cockpit flight crew members in order to ensure task completion. Any opportunity to automate such tasks may assist in increasing effectiveness, efficiency, and safety in the operation of the aircraft.